The meaning of the dream symbol: Justice

The eighth major arcanum of the tarot is the first card in the second sequence of seven which relates to the soul and is thus set midway between Spirit and Body.

On her head, Justice wears the judge’s yellow cap, on which is depicted a solar emblem, and sits on a throne. This, too, is yellow, as are her coiled necklace, the sword which she carries in her right hand, the left sleeve of her robe, her scales and the ground beneath her. She wears a blue coat over a red dress (like the Female pope and the hermit), but in this instance the three colours - red, blue and yellow - are almost balanced. The occult knowledge possessed by the Female Pope (in blue), is divulged by the Pope in a red cloak and leads to the triumph of gold, a solar colour. Sword and scales are traditional attributes of Justice. The scales are like those before Osiris’ judgement-seat, of which merely one of Maat’s feathers set the trays in balance, and here they are quite still. The straight and merciless sword, like the arm of the scales, will be used to punish the guilty. In this context it should be remembered that sword and scales are also ‘symbols of the two ways in which Aristotle maintained Justice could be envisioned. The sword stands for her power to inflict - Justitia suum cuique tribuit - and the scales her vocation to restore the balance of society’.

Justice, with the symbolic figure eight, is human conscience in the highest sense of the word. Those who attempt to misuse their powers will feel the weight of her sword and condemnation, while for true adepts, the scales will maintain the balance between the Pope (V) and Necessity (XI), that strict balance being the very law which brings order out of the chaos in the universe and within ourselves.